Kosovo: The development of interest groups in a fragile democracy

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1721
• Date: 01 May 2019
• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Author: Naile Krasniqi

SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER

Kosovo: The development of interest groups in a fragile

democracy

Naile Krasniqi

1,2

1

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social

Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2

Independent Media Commission of Kosovo,

Prishtinë, Kosovo

Correspondence

Naile Krasniqi, University of Ljubljana, Faculty

of Social Sciences, Kardeljeva ploščad 5,

SI‐1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Email: naile.krasniqi@gmail.com

Kosovo offers a unique opportunity to study interest groups in both a transitional

political system and a new country. As the youngest of the Balkan countries, both

its pluralist democracy and its interest group system are in the early stages of devel-

opment. The most significant influence on this development was Kosovo's grueling

fight for independence from Serbia in the 1990s. This produced a particular form of

interest and interest group activity quite different from most political systems in tran-

sition to democracy. As in all such systems, however, Kosovo's group system has also

been shaped by its political culture, socioeconomic, including religious, factors, and

particularly the international community. This article explains the various factors that

shaped early interest group activity, its characteristics, and how it has evolved into a

more traditional group system but one that remains bifurcated.

1|INTRODUCTION

Primarily due to its newness as a sovereign state, Kosovo's interest

group system is the least developed of the seven Balkan countries.

In fact, before the 1990s, as a province of the Socialist Federal

Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), it had no tradition of independent

interest groups. Kosovo's very recent experience with interest

groups combined with the youth of its consociational pluralist

democracy, means that both the group system and democracy are

very fragile.

1

Much of this fragility is due to Kosovo's experience with democ-

racy only dating from the late 1990. For most of that decade it was

fighting for its independence from Serbia. The socioeconomic, politi-

cal, and particularly the military situation that this created, led to a

unique group system. Since 2000, however, this system has developed

along the lines of more traditional group activity. Explaining the fac-

tors that shaped the old and the new system and the impetus for

the transition, is the major purpose of this article.

The article begins by looking at the challenges in studying interest

groups in this new nation. Next, the factors that have shaped group

activity are considered. The following three sections explain the

phases of development of the group system. Then we look at contem-

porary strategies, tactics, and influence. The challenges facing the

group system and the system's impact on democracy are considered

next. In part, the conclusion summarizes the current status of

Kosovo's group system.

2|THE CHALLENGES OF STUDYING

INTEREST GROUPS IN KOSOVO

There is no literature that directly deals with interest group activity in

Kosovo, either before or after independence. This lack of information

requires a creative research approach combining secondary sources

and some original research.

One important secondary source is work on Kosovo from the

project on civil society groups in the countries of the former SFRY

upon which this interest group study draws (Fink‐Hafner, 2015;

Hoxha, Koçani, Puka, & Orana, 2015). An overview of the civil society

project is provided in section 4 of the first article of this Special Issue.

Other secondary sources include work on Kosovo's historical develop-

ment, constitutional, and legal provisions related to the country's

interest group activity. We also draw on the literature on interest

groups, particularly that on systems transitioning to democracy from

authoritarianism, including work by Thomas (2014), Thomas and

Hrebenar (2008), and Klimovich and Thomas (2014, 185–186). The

latter makes an important distinction between integrated and bifur-

cated group systems, which is also explained in the introductory article

to this volume (sections 5.6–5.9).

These secondary sources were supplemented by original research.

This involved administering a survey of past and current activities of

interests and interest groups to a sample of individuals involved in or

who observe group activity (see the first article in this volume, section

5.5 for details of the survey instrument). Thirteen interviews were

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1721

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1721.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1721

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of10